Netherlands Man Learns Of Father's Suicide After Seeing Pictures On Twitter Of Incident In Train Station

06/28/2012 04:41 pm ET

Tragedy hit home for a man in the Netherlands yesterday when police informed him that pictures going viral on Twitter were of his father committing suicide in a train station. The son had seen the pictures on Twitter earlier that day.

BNO News reports a group of teenage students had been standing on the platform when a man jumped in front of the train. After the train passed, several of them took pictures of the man's body and severed head, posting them to Twitter.

This roughly translates into: "Everyone who felt obligated to take pictures of the train victim [in] Driehuis: remove them immediately. Disrespectful, and goes too far!"

The incident occurred in Driehuis, a city located about 20 miles west of Amsterdam.

Unfortunately, this isn't the only time photos have gone viral and caused anguish for family members. In 2006, photos of a young woman's car accident in California, leaked by the California Highway Patrol, were seen by thousands online even though her family had been prohibited from viewing the body. The family was recently awarded $2.37 million in damages, according to the LA Times.

Need help? In the U.S., call 1-800-273-8255 for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.